The central problem brought up in the movie is that China will soon be the world’s number one consumer of goods which will lead to much more sever environmental problems. China is no longer a poor country and as a result they have around 300 million people who are in the relative middle class.
As such, the people in China want the good life in that they are now able to buy lots of products that they could not dream about getting before. The best word to describe the issue with China is that their affluence is increasing through the world.
Economic - In the last 20 or so years, China has had an economic growth rate of around 8% each year. In addition, the average family income has increased by a factor of 4. With this increase in income, the people are able to buy more goods. People are able to buy cheap coal. Also there is the fact that the people want or already have a car. Having a car could be seen as a status symbol.
Technological – In the last two decades, they Chinese have gone into the 21st century with such things as skyscrapers. However at the same time they are still using a 19th century fuel source known as coal to heat and power most homes and businesses. It appears that thou they are working towards making all if not most of their coal powered planets be a bit cleaner than before.
In addition, most if not all the cars in the country are of relatively very old designs when they are compared to their American or European counter parts in that the cars do not have the same pollution controls installed and do not have the same fuel efficiency as well. The main reason for this is that there is much less regulations in China. However it appears that they are taking a step in the right directing in that the making cars that have less of an environmental impact.
Some of these newer car designs will be able to be powered by things like fuel cells or hydrogen. For the time being thou these cars are not the solution to the pollution caused by the cars because it still takes a lot of energy to power up fuel cells and to produce hydrogen for cars.
Political – Around the 1980’s because the country was relatively poor, the government ask for foreign aid to literally finance the countries growth. The major issue here is that the government priorities are to make or to keep the current jobs. The government places no regulation upon the companies because they mostly fear job loss. As a result the environment takes a back seat to keeping people in jobs.
Cultural – Many people have left their cultural heritage, which includes faming that is a very hard life style, both willing in the pursuit of a better life in regards to both wealth and a better easier life style or have been literally force to move into cities by projects like the Three Gorges Dam that flooded their homes.
Ecological – China as 25% of the world population but it can only feed around 7% of their population with the resources within the country. Farming is extremely inefficient because of limited water resources and bad farming practices. They have also removed countless trees which increase the chance and dangers from floods. Meat production has also increased by 40% in the last decade.
Media – The media seems to sometimes play a role in trying to resolve issues that people do not know about. One example is that the media played a role in forcing the government to act again illegal logging and the killing of animals such as the local monkeys. One must not forget that the media is not same as in other counties in that the government has a very firm hand on the media.
The film does show a few points of intervention however most if not all of the points of intervention seems to be in the hands of the government. The first example deals with the auto industry using dated designs on the cars they produce. The government can enact some regulations and say that the cars the companies make should be as clean as or cleaner than the cars built else were in the world.
With this, the auto companies may want to look into new car designs like a car powered by fuel cells. If the government puts these regulations onto the industry the chances that the auto industry complies to the regulations are extremely high because of the simple fact that the Chinese market is huge. These companies will most likely not let a potential market of around 2.3 billion people go to waste just because of new regulation being placed on them.
The other intervention also seems to lie in the hands of the government in regards to how it deals with the use of coal to power the country. The biggest issue that China has in regards to coal is that it extremely cheap when you compare it to other energy sources. There was a scene that showed the back of a motorcycle that was loaded with coal. The price of that coal was very cheap and that that amount could support a house for several months for a relatively low price. In addition another major issue the country does not have the necessary infrastructure that is needed to supply people with electricity instead of having people use coal to heat their homes.
The two points of this intervention stated above are things that the government has to be responsible for. One would wonder whether or not the Chinese government would go any of the two examples above. Thankfully, if they government actually wants to do either of these they will do it. If I am correct, the government closed down at least 1 steel production factory because it was not producing steel in an efficient manner.
In addition, I think the government also forced several other steel factories to upgrade their equipment, so in order to release less pollution. The government clearly has the power to force companies to do whatever they want them to do. The question lies in whether or not the government has any incentives to do so.
The central problem brought up in the movie is that China will soon be the world’s number one consumer of goods which will lead to much more sever environmental problems. China is no longer a poor country and as a result they have around 300 million people who are in the relative middle class.
As such, the people in China want the good life in that they are now able to buy lots of products that they could not dream about getting before. The best word to describe the issue with China is that their affluence is increasing through the world.
- Economic - In the last 20 or so years, China has had an economic growth rate of around 8% each year. In addition, the average family income has increased by a factor of 4. With this increase in income, the people are able to buy more goods. People are able to buy cheap coal. Also there is the fact that the people want or already have a car. Having a car could be seen as a status symbol.
- Technological – In the last two decades, they Chinese have gone into the 21st century with such things as skyscrapers. However at the same time they are still using a 19th century fuel source known as coal to heat and power most homes and businesses. It appears that thou they are working towards making all if not most of their coal powered planets be a bit cleaner than before.
- In addition, most if not all the cars in the country are of relatively very old designs when they are compared to their American or European counter parts in that the cars do not have the same pollution controls installed and do not have the same fuel efficiency as well. The main reason for this is that there is much less regulations in China. However it appears that they are taking a step in the right directing in that the making cars that have less of an environmental impact.
- Some of these newer car designs will be able to be powered by things like fuel cells or hydrogen. For the time being thou these cars are not the solution to the pollution caused by the cars because it still takes a lot of energy to power up fuel cells and to produce hydrogen for cars.
- Political – Around the 1980’s because the country was relatively poor, the government ask for foreign aid to literally finance the countries growth. The major issue here is that the government priorities are to make or to keep the current jobs. The government places no regulation upon the companies because they mostly fear job loss. As a result the environment takes a back seat to keeping people in jobs.
- Cultural – Many people have left their cultural heritage, which includes faming that is a very hard life style, both willing in the pursuit of a better life in regards to both wealth and a better easier life style or have been literally force to move into cities by projects like the Three Gorges Dam that flooded their homes.
- Ecological – China as 25% of the world population but it can only feed around 7% of their population with the resources within the country. Farming is extremely inefficient because of limited water resources and bad farming practices. They have also removed countless trees which increase the chance and dangers from floods. Meat production has also increased by 40% in the last decade.
- Media – The media seems to sometimes play a role in trying to resolve issues that people do not know about. One example is that the media played a role in forcing the government to act again illegal logging and the killing of animals such as the local monkeys. One must not forget that the media is not same as in other counties in that the government has a very firm hand on the media.
The film does show a few points of intervention however most if not all of the points of intervention seems to be in the hands of the government. The first example deals with the auto industry using dated designs on the cars they produce. The government can enact some regulations and say that the cars the companies make should be as clean as or cleaner than the cars built else were in the world.With this, the auto companies may want to look into new car designs like a car powered by fuel cells. If the government puts these regulations onto the industry the chances that the auto industry complies to the regulations are extremely high because of the simple fact that the Chinese market is huge. These companies will most likely not let a potential market of around 2.3 billion people go to waste just because of new regulation being placed on them.
The other intervention also seems to lie in the hands of the government in regards to how it deals with the use of coal to power the country. The biggest issue that China has in regards to coal is that it extremely cheap when you compare it to other energy sources. There was a scene that showed the back of a motorcycle that was loaded with coal. The price of that coal was very cheap and that that amount could support a house for several months for a relatively low price. In addition another major issue the country does not have the necessary infrastructure that is needed to supply people with electricity instead of having people use coal to heat their homes.
The two points of this intervention stated above are things that the government has to be responsible for. One would wonder whether or not the Chinese government would go any of the two examples above. Thankfully, if they government actually wants to do either of these they will do it. If I am correct, the government closed down at least 1 steel production factory because it was not producing steel in an efficient manner.
In addition, I think the government also forced several other steel factories to upgrade their equipment, so in order to release less pollution. The government clearly has the power to force companies to do whatever they want them to do. The question lies in whether or not the government has any incentives to do so.